Applied AI Engineer

Job Responsibilities:

The engineering team at Jito has successfully implemented AI integration, resulting in a tangible increase in productivity. This position focuses on capturing and utilizing this increased output across all departments within the company.

Jito specializes in developing the market layer of Solana, with a team of approximately 40 individuals. Various departments such as operations, legal, finance, marketing, business development, and product face complex workflow challenges that a skilled engineer could address efficiently. As the first dedicated AI engineer at Jito Labs, you will play a crucial role in identifying and solving both known and unnoticed optimization opportunities within existing processes.

In this unique position, you will collaborate closely with the CEO and teams company-wide to identify high-impact projects. You will take ownership of cross-functional initiatives and build solutions for teams that may lack the resources to do so themselves. The primary approach will involve determining whether to purchase existing solutions or build custom ones based on specific needs, ensuring each project has a clear owner and defined lifecycle.

Your responsibilities will include deeply engaging with team members, including engineers, to gain a comprehensive understanding of their workflow challenges. This involves scoping, building, securing, deploying, and maintaining solutions. While Security is responsible for the platform layer, you will oversee the development of applications on top of it in collaboration with Security from inception.

This is a mid-to-senior individual contributor role requiring three to five years of experience, focused on practical implementation rather than research or model training.

Key Challenges:

• Enhanced scope covering all departments within the company, each with unique workflows and preferences for tools or processes.
• Balancing between purchasing pre-existing tools and custom building, requiring informed decision-making.
• Emphasizing user adoption and balancing between technical development and user needs.
• Prioritizing security considerations in design while maintaining operational efficiency.
• Working autonomously in prioritizing and executing impactful projects.

Qualifications:

• 3-5 years of experience in deploying and managing production services, demonstrating proficiency in setting up various server environments and integrations.
• Track record of developing tools that are actively used by individuals within the organization.
• Demonstrated capability to understand and address workflow challenges in cross-functional departments such as Legal, Finance, or Marketing, without requiring a project manager.
• Strong instinct in identifying the most critical workflow challenges and offering suitable solutions.
• Upholding security considerations throughout the development process.
• Ability to think strategically about impactful projects and prioritize effectively in collaboration with the CEO.
• Skilled in maintaining and sunsetting projects to avoid unnecessary maintenance burdens.
• Intrigued by the prospect of a small team generating output equivalent to a much larger organization.

Preferred Background:

• Experience with agent frameworks like Langchain, building and operating MCP servers, and developing CLI automation tools.
• Proficiency in security and network operations, Linux systems, and DevOps practices.
• Prior experience in integrating systems and determining when to build bespoke solutions.
• Familiarity with Rust, Python, TypeScript, and concepts related to blockchain technologies such as Solana.